“Longer if she admits she’s been with us. Let’s not let it get there,” Hunter growls. “Get the fucking signal. We’re tracking that fucker down and cleaning house.”
“Hunter,” Lief tries.
“Do not fucking tell me no!” Hunter snarls. “I can’t stop teenagers from swearing loyalty or getting into debt with my father. I’m not going to let Valerie – someone who we promised to protect – get even one night of hell when we can do something! Fix it. Now!”
Lief glowers at Hunter. “You’re not the only one who cares about her.”
“Then stop arguing and get me answers.”
Hunter storms out and gets on the phone in Russian. I follow him to get the footage and see Sven dragging a bound and gagged Valerie to his car. I zoom in on her face. She’s pissed. She doesn’t look scared at all. She looks like she’s biding her time to bite him.
At this rate, we’re going to be lucky if she didn’t force a car accident I rub my forehead and take a shaky breath as Hunter nudges me. “Alive.”
“I have a location.”
“Please tell me it’s not the side of a road with police all around them.” I motion to her face.
“No. The docks. Shipping area. We need to move quickly. That zone means no survivors. It means no check-in. No interrogation,” Lief insists.
“No witnesses.” Hunter’s lips turn up in a wicked smile. Then he nods to the screen. “We’re coming for you, sweetheart.”
I look at her face. Something tells me she’s going to put Sven through hell. He’s got an uphill battle, but we’re going to bring her home. I nod to her through the screen. “Don’t let up, baby. Give us time.”
VALERIE
Itake in the man in front of me. Short hair, dark blue eyes, taught muscle. He has a scar on his face. I got some of his blood drawn in the hotel room before he used a towel to choke me. He tied me up, dragged me out, got me into the car, and threw me in the back and after I spent half the ride kicking the back of his seat like an insolent child, he drugged me.
Still, I have my phone in my jeans, between my underwear and my skin, just so he wouldn’t immediately grab it.
My hands are tied to the back of the chair. If I can distract him and move just right, I can get to 911. That’s a number of buttons. If I can get my phone, I can open my contacts and just keep hitting the call button until something sticks.
Luckily, it’s not the first time I’ve been gagged, and this dick has a lighter hand, because I fought. I push it out and watch as he paces. He mumbles to himself as I look around. A warehouse. I hear construction or something outside.
A boat horn echoes and I nod. Near the water. Probably a shipping yard. Lief would know how far the sound of a boat can travel. But Lief isn’t an option. He’s just as bad as this asshole. I’m sure of it. So are Hunter and Chase.
My three gods are in some kind of Russian mafia and I’m caught in the middle. I should have trusted myself earlier. I should have seen they were playboys with a lot of money – more money than a ‘consulting’ company could provide and dug deeper.
I could have avoided this.
“Who are you?” I ask.
The man turns, glares at my gag, and reaches for it. I bite him, hard, digging my teeth in until he hits me. I fall over, giving my hand enough room to get into my pants as he picks me back up. I hit the button and tap the screen, happy I put the brightness down.
“Look, I’m not going anywhere, that’s pretty obvious.”
“Stop talking!” He orders.
“Is it your first time?”
That gets his attention. He narrows his eyes at me. “You know nothing, fucking bitch. If you hadn’t been there …”
“But now you’re in trouble, right? I wasn’t supposed to see you. I wasn’t supposed to get away. Sounds like a lot of pressure,” I say, trying to remember where the buttons are. God, I wish I had a Nokia. “Whoever’s in charge must be lazy as hell if they’re making you do all this.”
“I’m in charge.” He grabs my jaw so tightly I can already feel the bruise. “As far as you’re concerned.”
“Oh, I know I’m not getting out of this.” I shrug.
He blinks, takes me in, and leans his head to the side. “But no fight?”